Sectional refrigerator cabinet



Dec. 23, 1952 L. A. PHILIPP 2,522,753

SECTIONAL REFRIGERATOR CABINET Original Filed Aug. 24, 1944 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 l l #4 m2 j 92 INVENTOR .98 J 8 IL E 32 1 r Lflk/EE/VCE f2 PHIL/PP HT TOB/VEI/ Dec. 23, 1952 L. A. PHILIPP 2,622,753

SECTIONAL REFRIGERATOR CABINET Original Filed Aug. 24, 1944 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 I N V EN TOR. A /4 WEE/V65 f1- Hm/PP WZM Dec. 23, 1952 L. A. PHlLlPP 2,522,753

SECTIONAL REFRIGERATOR CABINET Original Filed Aug. 24, 1944 4 Sheets-Sheet 4' @fd INVENTOR.

Patented Dec. 23, 1952 UNITED STATES ATENT OFFICE SECTIONAL REFRIGERATOR CABINET Lawrence A. Philipp, Detroit, Mich., assignor to Nash-Kelvinator Corporation, Detroit, Mich., a corporation of Maryland 3 Claims. 1

This is a divisional application of my pending application Serial No. 550,920 filed August 24, 1944., now Patent Number 2,464,606.

This invention relates to refrigerating apparatus, and more particularly to such apparatus as is used for storing and dispensing frozen articres, such, for example, as ice cream, food stuffs, e c.

It is an object of the invention to provide an improved frozen food cabinet built up of a number of sub-assemblies formed of stamped metal sheets secured together as by welding to provide an improved cooler of rugged construction wherein maximum use is made of the space within the device.

A further object of the invention is to provide a cabinet for storing and dispensing frozen food stuffs wherein the cooler is formed of interconnected stamped sheets to provide a rigid efficient structure wherein selectively operable closure members positioned in the top are provided to permit ready access to spaced portions of the device in such a manner that minimum cold is lost from the storage compartment while dispensing food stuffs from the cabinet.

A still further object of the invention resides in the development of an improved method of fabricating a frozen food cabinet wherein refrigerant condensing and evaporating elements are secured to spaced walls or sub-assemblies, and are interconnected when the walls or sub-assemblies are joined together to provide a unitary cabinet having interconnected continuous refrigerant condensing and evaporating elements bonded to the walls to employ the entire surface of insulated. outer and inner walls as refrigerant condensing and evaporating elements.

Other objects and advantages of this invention will be apparent from the following detailed description considered in connection with the accompanying drawings, submitted for purposes of illustration only and not intended to define the scope of the invention, reference being had for that purpose to the sub-joined claims.

In the drawings, wherein similar reference characters refer to similar parts throughout the several views:

Fig. 1 is an isometric view, partly broken away and in section, of a frozen food cabinet, embodying the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a schematic view of the refrigerating apparatus illustrating the relation of the refrigerant condensing and evaporating elements thereof;

Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the cabinet illustrated in Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is an end elevation of the cabinet;

Fig. 5 is a plan View of the cabinet illustrated in Fig. 1;

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary sectional view of the cabinet, taken substantially on the line B6 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary sectional view of the cabinet, taken substantially on the line !---'I of Fig. 3;

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary sectional view of the cabinet, taken substantially along the line 8-8 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 9 is a fragmentary sectional view of the cabinet, taken substantially along the line 9-9 of Fig. 4; V

Fig. 10 is a fragmentary plan view of the cabinet, looking in the direction ofarrow ill of Fig. 8;

Fig. 11 is a fragmentarysectional view of the cabinet, taken substantially along the line I l-ll of Fig. 5;

Fig. 12 is a fragmentary sectional view of the cabinet, taken substantially along the line l2--l2 of Fig. 3; and I Fig. 13 is a fragmentary sectional View of the cabinet, taken substantially along the line l3--|3 of Fig. 3.

Referring now more particularly to Figs. 1 and 2, a frozen food cabinet is illustrated wherein back and front outer walls or panels [0 and [2 are interconnected by outer end walls or panels l4 and I6. The panels l0, l2, l4 and [6 are formed of thin walled metal stock.

Inner back and front walls I8 and 26 interconnected by inner end walls 22 and 24 are spaced from the outer walls to provide space for suitable insulating material 26 interposed between the inner and outer Walls to prevent the transfer of heat to the storage compartment 28 formed within the inner walls or shell and to minimize the loss of cold from the storage compartment 28. A refrigerant motor compressor unit 36 is positioned in a mechanism compartment 32 located in one end of the cabinet between the outer front 2 wall l2 and the outer end wall 16.

lustrated at 38, and extends back and forth across the end wall in serpentine relation, as illustrated at 46, extending from the top toward the bottom above the mechanism compartment 32, as illustrated in the upper right hand portion of Fig. 2. From the bottom of the outer end wall l6 above the mechanism compartment 32, the first length of the condenser conduit 36 extends up to the top of the wall l6, as illustrated at 42, and is connected to a second length of the condensing tube 44 bonded in any suitable manner, as by a silver soldered joint 46 to the back panel Hi. It will be understood that the back panel I6 lies adjacent to the end panel I 6, the dotted line 46 merely illustrating the connection in the diagrammatic layout of Fig. 2.

The second length of the refrigerant condensing tube 44 is bonded to the back panel H! in heat conducting relation, and extends back and forth across the back wall in serpentine relation, as illustrated at 58. From the bottom of the back wall I 0, the conduit 44 extends to the top of the end panel I4, as illustrated at 52, and is connected to a third length of the condensing tube 54 in any convenient manner, as by a silver soldered joint 56. The tube 54 is bonded to the end panel [4 and extends back and forth across the wall in serpentine relation, as illustrated at 58. From the bottom of the end wall [4 the tube 54 extends up, as illustrated at 60, and is connected as by a silver soldered joint 62 to a tube 64 bonded to the front wall it.

The tube 64 is connected to a refrigerant receiver in the form of a larger diameter tube 66 bonded to the front panel l2 in serpentine rela tion extending toward the bottom of the panel The large diameter tube 66 is bonded to the front panel l2 in heat conducting relation therewith and provides a space for the storage of liquefied refrigerant. The liquid refrigerant passes through a tube 68 into a strainer Hi.

The refrigerant condenser formed by the tubes 35, 44, 54 and 64 bonded to the outer walls of the cabinet in thermal contact therewith absorbs heat from the compressed gaseous refrigerant from the motor compressor 39 and dissipates it to the atmosphere through the thin external metal walls of the cabinet which functions as a large heat dissipating fin. As the heat of condensation is absorbed from the gaseous refrigerant it is converted into a liquid and stored in the receiver 66.

Liquid refrigerant passing through the strainor 10 flows through a tube 12 of small diameter to meter the flow of liquid refrigerant into a refrigerant evaporator in the form of a series of interconnected tubes bonded to the outer surface of the inner walls I3, 20, 22 and 24 in heat exchange relation therewith to absorb heat from the storage compartment 28 as the liquid refrigerant expands and is reconverted to the gaseous form.

The tube 72 is preferably wrapped about and bonded in heat exchange relation to a conduit M extending from the remote end of the refrigerant evaporator element and extending to the inlet side '16 of the motor compressor unit 30.

The tube 12 is connected to a first length of an evaporator conduit '56 in any convenient manner, as by a silver soldered joint 86. The evaporator conduit 16 is bonded in serpentine relation to the under surface of a panel 18 positioned to overlie the mechanism compartment 32, as illustrated in the lower right hand portion of Fig. 2. The evaporator conduit '16 is connected to a second length of evaporator conduit 82 by a suitable connection 84. The conduit 84 extends to the bottom of a side panel 86 of the mechanism compartment 32 and extends in serpentine relation up the side wall thereof, as illustrated at 88.

From the top of the panel 86 forming one of the walls of the mechanism compartment 32, the refrigerant evaporator conduit 82 is connected to another evaporator conduit 90 by a connection 92. The evaporator conduit 90 is bonded to the end wall 24 above the mechanism compartment 32 and extends toward the top of the wall in serpentine relation, as illustrated at 92. From the top of the end wall 24 the evaporator conduit 90 is connected to another evaporator conduit 94 by a connection 96. The conduit 94 extends down to the bottom of the front wall 26, as illustrated at 98, and then extends up the wall in serpentine relation thereto, as illustrated at I60.

From the top of the front wall 20 the refrigerant evaporator conduit 94 is connected to another conduit m2 by a connection I64. The conduit 32 extends down, as illustrated at M6, to the bottom of the end wall 22, and then upward thereon in serpentine relation, as illustrated at H38. From the top of the end wall 22 the evaporator conduit I02 is connected to another evaporator conduit ill] by a connector H2. The conduit H0 extends to the bottom of the back panel 18, as illustrated at H4, and is bonded thereto in heat exchange relation. The evaporator conduit H6 is connected to a refrigerant accumulator in the form of a conduit I 16 of larger diameter connected to the conduit 14.

By disposing the refrigerant evaporating conduits I6, 82, 96, 94, I62 and H0 in serpentine relation relative to the side and end walls of the refrigerated compartment 28 and bonding them thereto inthermal contact, the entire inner shell defining the storage compartment 28 is employed as a refrigerant evaporating element to absorb heat from the compartment 28 as the liquid refrigerant is converted to the gaseous form.

The conduit 14 connected to the accumulator conduit H6 is bonded to the back wall [8 in thermal contact therewith, and projects through the insulation 26 to the inner surface of the outer front wall I 2. As indicated above, the end of the conduit 14 is connected to the inlet side '16 of the motor compressor unit 30 as previously discussed, whereby gaseous refrigerant can be withdrawn from the accumulator of the refrigerant evaporator and be transmitted under pressure to the refrigerant condenser disposed in thermal relation on the outer panels.

The operation of this device is as follows. Gaseous refrigerant is withdrawn from the accumulator of the refrigerant evaporator H6 through the conduit 14 and is compressed by the motor compressor unit 30. The compressed gaseous refrigerant is discharged under pressure to the interconnected refrigerant condenser tubes bonded to the inner surface of the external walls of the cabinet. Heat is dissipated from the gaseous refrigerant by the external walls of the cabinet, and when a predetermined proportion of heat has been dissipated the gaseous refrigerant is converted into liquid which flows into the refrigerant receiver 66 positioned adjacent to the end of the refrigerant condenser tubes.

The liquid refrigerant passes through the strainer 16 and into the capillary liquid refrigerant metering conduit 12. The capillary tube 12 is in thermal contact with the gaseous refrigerant conducting portion 14 of the evaporator. The liquid refrigerant then flows through the evaporator conduits I6 and 82 bonded to the panels 18 and 86 surrounding the mechanism compartment 32 and through the liquid refrigerant conducting tubes bonded to the interconnected end and side walls. As the liquid refrigerant expands thereby absorbing heat, it is converted to the gaseous form and flows into the accumulator II6 connected through the conduit 14 with the inlet side 16 of the motor compressor unit 30.

It will be apparent that by positioning the refrigerant condensing and evaporating elements: in thermal contact with the outer and inner walls of the cabinet great efficiency of operation is: insured, and the refrigerated compartment 28 is maintained as large as possible. Greater efiiciency of operation thus results and a more desirable structure is attained.

It will be apparent that, if desired, contoured plates may be employed to form serpentine contoured refrigerant conducting passages for condensing gaseous refrigerant at the outer walls or shell, or to evaporate liquid refrigerant at the inner walls or shell.

The outer shell of the cabinet may be fabricated in a plurality of sections or sub-assemblies suitably secured together. For example, a central section I 50 may receive prefabricated end sections I52and I54, and the device may be completed by securing a top section I56 on the central and end sections. The top section I56 preferably has a centrally disposed framework to form a plurality of openings into the storage compartment 28. Spaced selectively operable covers I58, i 60 and I62 are provided to permit access to spaced portions of the storage compartment 28.

The central section I50 is formed of front and back panels I64 and I66. As illustrated in Fig. 6, the panels I64 and I66 have rounded lower edges to define inwardly extended flanges I68 interposed between and secured to a bottom panel I10, contoured to overlie the flanges I 68, as illus-- trated at I12, and a contoured supporting channel member I14 having a horizontally extending portion I 16 secured to the flanges I 68 and the bottom panel I in any convenient manner, as by welding. The supporting member I14 has a vertically extended portion I18, having apertures I80 extending through it to reduce the weight, and a horizontally disposed floor engaging portion I82. The panel 86 forming one side of the mechanism compartment 32 is secured to a plate I84 having flanges I 86 secured to the front panel I64, as by welding.

As illustrated in Fig. 7, the front panel IE4 is contoured, as illustrated at I90, to provide an inwardly extended flange I92 to support the panel 18 defining the top of the mechanism compartment 32. The panel 18 is contoured as illustrated to provide a right angle portion I94 extending parallel with the side panel I64 and a rigidifying angularly related portion I96 as illustrated in Figs. 3 and 7. The panel 18 forming the top of the mechanism compartment has an upwardly extended flange I98 adapted to align with and be welded or otherwise suitably secured to the end section I52.

The construction of the end section I52 and the manner in which it is connected to the central section E50 is illustrated in Figs. 8 to 13. As illustrated in Fig. 9, the end section I52 has a vertically extended end wall 200 rounded at the bottom to a horizontally extended section 2I2 aligned with the bottom panel I10. The section 2I2 terminates in an upwardly extended flange 2I4 welded or otherwise secured to an upwardly extended flange 2I6 of the bottom panel I10 and terminating in an angularly extended rigidifying flange 2I8. A supporting member 220 has a flat upper portion 222 welded to the horizontally extended section 2I2 of the end wall 200, and to the bottom panel I10. The ends of the supporting members I14 and 220 are angularly inclined or bevelled in the vertical plane, as illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4., to insure a smooth connection of the supporting member completely around the cabinet, as illustrated in Fig. 1.

The end panel 200 of each of the end sections I 52 and I56 has rounded front and back edge portions 230 and 232 adapted to align with the front and back panels of the central section I50.

The central section I50 and the end section I52 have intermediate horizontal wall sections 10 and M, respectively, adapted to align to form the top wall of the mechanism compartment 32, as illustrated in Figs. 8 and 10. The wall 19 in the end section 52 has upwardly extended flanges 234 welded or otherwise secured to the front and back edge portions 23s and 232 of the end section I52, and is provided with a vertically extended flange 236 terminating in an angularly inclined reinforcing wall 238. The vertical flange 236 is aligned with an upwardly extended flange 240 of the wall section is and is secured thereto in any convenient manner, as by spot welding. The flange 249 terminates in an angularly related vertically extended rigidifying wall 242. The horizontal wall section rests on and is secured to inwardly extended flanges 2M carried by the front and back edge portions 230 and 232 over the mechanism compartment 32.

The wall section 18 rests on an inwardly extended flange 266 formed in the front and back panels I54 and I66 of the central section I 50 and is secured thereto, as by spot welding.

Suitable reinforcin flanges 250 are secured to the inner walls forming the storage cabinet 28.

In the fabrication of this improved cabinet for frozen foods, the outer shell is assembled and the refrigerant condenser tubes are connected. The insulation 26 is then positioned in place and the inner shell having the refrigerant evaporator tubes secured thereto is positioned within the insulation. The top panel I56 is then placed over the assembly and secured in any desired manner, as by spot welding. The manually actuated lids I58, I and I62 are placed on the framework of the top panel.

By placing the condenser tube on the outer walls and utilizing such walls for the dissipation of heat, there will be sufficient heat conducted to the top panel I56 to prevent sweating about the entrance to the compartment 28.

Although a preferred form of the invention has been illustrated and described in detail, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications y be made without departing from the spirit of the invention or from the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A refrigerated compartment comprising a central section formed of thin walled metal sheets forming bottom and side walls having inwardly extended flanges, one end of the central section having interconnected vertical and horizontal portion of a mechanism compartment and having angularly related flanges secured together and to the side and bottom walls of the central section, spaced end sections formed of thin walled sheets having rounded side walls and substantially flat bottom wall portions adapted to align with and be secured to the ends of the central section, one of the end sections having a horizontally extended wall adapted to align with the horizontal wall extending from front to back to complete the mechanism compartment and having angularly related flanges secured to the end section and adapted to be secured to an angularly related flange of the central section, a supporting flange positioned beneath and secured to the bottom of the central and end sections, an apertured cover plate having rounded edge portions mounted on and secured to the top of the central and end sections, and manually operable closures for the apertured cover.

2. In a refrigerator cabinet, a central section formed of thin walled metal sheets forming bottom and side walls having inwardly extending flanges, one end of said central section having a side wall recess, a vertical plate member and a horizontal plate member defining said recess and having flanges secured to the flange of said bottom and side walls, spaced end sections formed of thin walled sheets having side walls and bottom wall portions aligning respectively with and secured to the ends of said central section bottom and side Walls, one of said end sections having a horizontally extended Wall member aligning with said first horizontal wall to form the top wall of a refrigerating apparatus compartment and having flanges secured to said end sections and to said central section, a supporting flange positioned beneath and secured to the bottom of said central and end sections, an apertured cover plate mounted on the top edges of said central and end sections, and closure members closing the apertures in said plate.

3. In a refrigerator cabinet construction, a

central casing section of vU-s'hape cross section forming bottom and opposite side Walls having inwardly extended flanges, one end of said central section having interconnected vertical and horizontal walls extending between said side walls to define a portion of a mechanism compartment and having flanges secured together and to the side and bottom walls of said central section, spaced end sections having side and bottom wall portions aligned with and secured to opposite ends of said central section, one of said end sections having a horizontally extending wall adapted to align with said first named horizontal wall to complete the mechanism compartment and having flanges secured to said one end section and adapted to be secured to a flange of said central section, a supporting flange secured to the bottom wall of said central and end sections, an apertured cover mounted on and secured to the top of said central and end sections, and closure members for the apertures in said cover.

LAWRENCE A. PHILIPP.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,879,241 Hill Sept. 27, 1932 2,931,701 Forsthoeful Feb. 25, 1936 2,150,640 Stephens Mar. 14, 1939 2,263,098 Mueller Nov. 1-8, 1941 2,276,635 Weber Mar. 17, 1942 2,295,113 Jordan et al Sept. 18, 1942 2,302,051 Philipp Nov. 17, 1942 2,319,403 I-Iill May 18, 1943 2,355,855 Goerg Aug. 15, 1944 

